The Welney Website
William Marshall Primary School
Welney has its own small junior school, situated in Main Street. It caters for children aged 4-11 years, and the catchment area includes Tipps End and Lakes End. It currently (2005) has 37 pupils, an increase of 6 since 2000.
To learn more about the activities, staff, management and governors of the present day school, please visit the school's own web-site (see link below). You will also find a link below to the school photo archives. To learn about the school's history please read on...................
The school owes its existence to Welney's greatest benefactor, William Marshall. His story, and that of the charity he created more than 340 years ago, is told elsewhere on this web site. His connection with the school goes back only 200 years, to 1805 when the then Trustees of the Charity wanted to establish a school. To do so they had to apply to the Court of Chancery for permission to change the use of some of the income from the land William Marshall bequeathed. The process lasted 14 years until 1819 when a revised scheme was finally approved allowing surplus funds from some of the charitable works to be invested until sufficient to establish a "Free School" for the children of Welney.
By 1827 enough money had been accumulated to establish a school, but not sufficient to acquire land or erect a building. The school therefore began in the vestry of the (then) Chapel. By 1843 the funds had increased to an extent that the Trustees were able to commission plans to build a school and schoolmaster's house. They were greatly helped by another benefactor, the Rev. William Gale Townley, Rector of Upwell-with-Welney, who donated land for the school (and also for a new Chapel and Almshouses, described elsewhere). In 1844 John C. Buckler was appointed Architect and he prepared designs and estimated the cost would be £710. In 1847 the project was approved by the Court of Chancery, tenders for the works were sought, and Jeremiah Andrews was awarded the contract. Construction began that same year, and the rector's wife Mrs W.G.Townley laid the cornerstone. The buildings were completed a year later in 1848 at a cost of nearly double the original estimate.
The school has had a variety of names, including Welney Mixed School and Welney Old School, but in 1969 the name officially adopted was The William Marshall School, Welney. Since then various suffixes have been used - CE or C of E (i.e. Church of England) and VC (i.e.Voluntary Controlled) but William Marshall's name has remained foremost.
Over the years, pupil numbers have ranged from 25 to 120. In 1875 there were 90 children enrolled, and three years later it had risen to 102. In 1890 there were 120 children, and in 1912 104 were enrolled, although average attendance was only 94. During the 1920's the figure dropped to the mid 70's, but in 1927 the Mission School at Hundred Foot Bank (built in 1874, also by Marshall's Charity) closed and 43 pupils were transferred to Welney taking the enrolment to 118. In 1935 the numbers were down to 107, but the figures dropped dramatically a few years later when children living at Hundred Foot Bank were transferred to the school at Ten Mile Bank in 1938, and a year later children over the age of 11 were sent to the newly opened High School in Upwell. That left just 46 pupils remaining at Welney in 1939. In 1948 the numbers had dropped still further to 34, and in 1976 it was down to just 26 children. The numbers doubled in 1977 when the Lakes End school closed and 26 children were transferred to Welney taking enrolment to 52. in 1985 the figure dropped slightly to 48, and then numbers gradually dwindled to the mid 20's, well below the viable minimum. Without the continued support of William Marshall's Charity, it is very doubtful that the school could have survived. Happily the numbers have now increased.
The school has been blessed with some long-serving schoolmasters, or headmasters. The record belongs to Walter Bearcock with 38 years from 1883 to 1919. Charles Ray served 25 years from 1925 to 1948, and Bryan Turner's 28 years from 1957 to 1985 are fondly remembered by several generations of current Welneyites.
The school building is still essentially the 1848 construction - but with modern improvements! Electric lighting was installed in 1951, a kitchen added in 1953 and in 1970 new floors, a false ceiling and fluorescent lighting were installed. In 1971 the old coke-fired boiler was replaced by an oil-fired one, and in 1973 indoor toilets were provided. In 1977 some farm land behind the school was acquired by Marshall's Charity for use as the school playing field. In 2002 (?) the school house was converted into an extension of the school, again with the help of Marshall's Charity. The ground floor of the old school house is now used for 5 half-day sessions per week by the Welney Cygnets and by the school the rest of the time. The school is well equipped with IT facilities.
In 1998 the school celebrated the 150th anniversary of the building, with a party and a new school sign unveiled by the local MP, Mrs Gillian Shephard. The sign says the school was founded in 1848, the year the building was erected, but the records suggest the foundation was actually in 1827.
A list of head-teachers and a selection of photographs from the Welney archives can be seen by clicking on the links below.
March 2006. Due to software problems the webmaster has been unable to update names on the photo-gallery. An alterative display format is being trialed, available here early April.
The webmaster is indebted to Mr Ken Sorenson for the loan of his 1998 research papers on which much of this page is based.
other school pages: